FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT SIMON - PAGE 4

Miami Beach police say an officer caught on video on Saturday slamming a woman to the ground while surrounded by an angry and allegedly violent "mob" did nothing wrong. Late Monday night, The Miami Herald posted YouTube videos online showing Lt. Douglas Simon arresting a woman who police say was kicked out of a Funkshion Fashion Week concert on the beach for "unruly behavior. " As a crowd circled around Simon near the shoreline, police say Sara Greenback struggled with the officer while an unidentified man wrestled with a concert security guard.

It's Motown night. Anyone who makes a bad song choice from this library deserves to go home. This week's mentor, Smokey Robinson, who will perform Thursday, wrote more than 4,000 songs by himself. What better selection to start the show than Let's Get It On? Matt Giraud doesn't just sing it, he performs it. After opening at the piano, he gets up and works the room. "A cool performance," Simon calls it, agreeing with Randy's praise that Matt has become a top contender. Not even the leadoff jinx should give him any worries this week.

DELRAY BEACH -- Family reunions have better turnouts than the Downtown Development Authority`s elections, but the agency will try a third time to get voter approval to expand its territory. City commissioners on Friday agreed to back the authority`s efforts to get a state legislative approval to hold an election on whether the agency should add 140 acres to its 75-acre district. In two previous attempts, the Downtown Development Authority failed with votes of 4-3 and 8-7 against the expansion.

Now American Idol gets really serious and the verdicts move from the judges to the viewers. The tens of thousands, who auditioned all over the United States and Puerto Rico, were winnowed to 36 Wednesday. They'll perform in groups of 12 starting Tuesday. The top male and female vote-getter from each show as well as the contestant from either gender with the next highest number of votes will earn a spot in the final 12. After three rounds, the judges will give 12 castoffs one last chance with three of those joining the other nine.

ISLANDERS: Forward Chris Simon met with NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell on Saturday, and now must wait to find out how long he will be suspended for his stick attack on the Rangers' Ryan Hollweg. "I do not remember much about Thursday's incident," said Simon, diagnosed with a concussion as a result of Hollweg's hit, in a statement. "When I saw the tape on Friday morning, it explained a lot to me when I saw the look on my face after being hit into the boards. I was completely out of it. ... I need to make clear that this is not justification for the danger I put Ryan Hollweg in and the damage I have caused the game."

Former Neo-Nazi, Thomas J. Leyden, is scheduled to speak at the roundtable discussion on "The State of Hate in America" 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 16 at Olympic Heights High, 20101 Lyons Road, Boca Raton. Leyden will talk about his change of heart and why he feels the need to speak out against hatred now. Other participants of the discussion, sponsored by The Simon Wiesenthal Center and the League For Educational Awareness of the Holocaust Inc., include Boca Raton Mayor Carol Hanson, Superintendent of Schools Joan Kowal and others.

Former Neo-Nazi, Thomas J. Leyden, is slated to speak at the round-table discussion on "The State of Hate in America" 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 16 at Olympic Heights High, 20101 Lyons Road, Boca Raton. Leyden will talk about his change of heart and why he feels the need to speak out against hatred now. Other participants of the discussion, sponsored by The Simon Wiesenthal Center and the League For Educational Awareness of the Holocaust Inc., include Boca Raton Mayor Carol Hanson, Superintendent of Schools Joan Kowal and others.

VOTE-RICH SOUTH FLORIDA will be the site of the final debate among the major presidential candidates before the voters in 20 southern states go to the polls on Super Tuesday, March 8. The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce announced last week that two debates are set for late February at the James L. Knight Center. Republican candidates will be featured on Saturday, Feb. 20, and their Democratic counterparts the following evening. The debates -- the last in a series of four -- are being produced by the Southern Education Communications Association to draw the candidates to the area during the 1988 presidential campaign.

A monkey who disappeared from his owner's Hollywood home Wednesday was found safe and uninjured late Friday night. Simon, a year-old, black-tufted marmoset, was rescued by officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Though the details of the rescue were not immediately released, the monkey's owner, Daniel Alamary, 25, said a man had trapped his pet and then sold it to someone in Pembroke Pines. "The officers basically told him he'd be in a lot of trouble if he didn't say how he got that monkey, so he just told them everything," Alamary said.